League of Legends patch 11.1 notes: Gnar buffs, Season 11 start, more

League of Legends patch 11.1 ⁠— the first update of 2021 ⁠— has arrived. With Season 11 kicking off on January 8, Riot are putting the final touches on preseason with changes to new items, as well as buffs to Gnar & Qiyana, and more nerfs to Pantheon.

It’s been a long wait over Christmas, but the light at the end of the tunnel has appeared; Riot Games are back in the studio, and the first updates of 2021 have rolled out.

Super Galaxy Gnar yelling above League of Legends patch 11.1.

The LoL meta has been in a state of flux since Riot droppedpatch 10.25⁠to end Season 10. The new items have been causing havoc across the Rift, and a number of champs have soared ahead thanks to their changes.This includes mid laner Katarina, tanks like Malphite and Ivern, and more.

While the Sinister Blade isn’t being touched, the latter two tanks are. They’re two of 16 champions receiving balance changes on League patch 11.1 — although not immediately — as the meta shifts again ahead of the Season 11 launch.

Gnar buffs, more Pantheon changes in first LoL patch of 2021

The first patch of 2021 is set to include some updates for Gnar and Pantheon.

The former hasn’t been changed in a while, and is in dire need of a buff after the Season 11 item rework. Riot are heeding the call, massively buffing his mega form, while also adding some nice changes to his mini form too.

Chamber next to Valorant logo and patch 11.04 text

Pantheon, on the other hand, is getting more nerfs after his patch 10.25 decimation. While support Pantheon is dead, like Riot wanted, top lane has landed a bit too strong, so they’re nerfing his sustain.

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Outside of the two top laners, Fiddlesticks and Master Yi are being nerfed in the update. Karma, Qiyana, Ryze, Xayah, Yasuo, and Yone are receiving some buffs as well.

Lead developer Mark Yetter also confirmed six champions are being hotfixed on Day 1 with balance changes not in the patch notes. This includes buffs to Sivir and Varus, and nerfs to Graves, Malphite, Ivern, and Taliyah.

Riot aims to shift item power with burst nerfs

There’s been one major complaint with the League Season 11 items so far ⁠— they’re a bit too bursty. Every item has some sort of assassin-esque power-up, turning any champion into a burst mage, bruiser, assassin, or marksman. Even supports can buy Eclipse.

Riot has noted this backloaded power on the actives of most items, and are looking at shifting them to more sustained stats to help champions scale based on their abilities, not on their builds.

Duskblade of Draktharr, Prowler’s Claw, Hextech Rocketbelt, Night Harvester, Trinity Force, Goredrinker, and Stridebreaker are all being targeted with this update.

The Runaan’s changes touted for patch 10.25 have also finally been shipped, while Shurelya’s Battlesong is getting a buff for supports.

League of Legends Season 11 starts January 8

While the patch is going live on January 6, Season 11 won’t start until two days later on January 8. The start time will be at 4am local time for each server.

You can find thefull League of Legends patch 11.1 notesbelow, including the Day 1 hotfix